NAVI MUMBAI: The Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation (NMMC) on Tuesday wrote to the Maharashtra Medical Council (MMC), the watchdog of the medical profession, to take further action against NeuroGen Brain & Spine Institute in Seawoods, for commercially providing stem cell therapy to children with autism.
The NMMC had revoked the hospital’s registration last week. On Tuesday, it filed a caveat in the Bombay high court seeking to be heard on a possible appeal filed by NeuroGen. NMMC medical health officer Dr Pramod Patil told TOI that the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) guidelines restrict stem cell therapy to clinical trials only. “No one is allowed to use stem cell therapy in any form for treatment, and this has been vetted by the National Medical Commission (NMC),” he said. “Stem cells could be derived from the bone marrow, peripheral blood cells, fetal blood cells, among others but should be done str-ictly under permission from NMC’s ethics committee.”
Reacting to a statement by NeuroGen owner Dr Alok Sharma that the NMMC di-dn’t give them notice, Dr Patil clarified that a month’s notice (on December 29, 2022) was given to the hospital. It’s only due to non-compliance that their registration was revoked under section 8 (1) of the Bombay Nursing Home Act.
Stem cell researcher Dr Uma Ladiwala, formerly with Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, said: “The health ministry in March 2019 notified stem cell-derived products as a new drug. Earlier, it had divided stem cells and derived products into two groups — ‘substantially’ and ‘minimally manipulated’ – based on procedural complexities.” But ICMR had objected to the creation of the ‘minimally manipulated’ group, which includes injections provided by NeuroGen. Dr Ladiwala said stem cells, as per a recent study, injected into the spinal cord caused seizures in 9% of the patients.
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